“Hopefully she can start to come to terms with it and we can start all over again.”

Spending time with Speed’s teenage boys Ed and Tommy as well as close pals such as Joe Royle, who signed the boyhood Evertonian when he was in charge of the Blues in 1996, has helped him cope.

“The last year has just flown”, said Roger. “I’ve been with the lads, they’ve been sorting me out, keeping me going. Joe Royle has been fantastic.

“The boys have got the same attitude as their dad, they do everything right.

“They eat the same things he did and they drink the same things he did.

“He’s coming out in them. Hopefully he’ll live on through them.”

The recent renaming of Aston Park play area – just 100 yards from where Speed grew up on Courtland Drive – to Gary Speed MBE Playing Field has typified the level of support shown by both the community and general public, according to Roger.

He said: “That was tremendous. We’re still overwhelmed by the support we’ve had.

“People have been wonderful. People we don’t even know stop us and say they’re thinking of us.”

Reflecting on his life and successful football career, Roger could think of no better word to describe his son.

“Inspirational”, he said. “He was inspirational to everybody.

“Just look at the Welsh football team, he was an inspiration to them. They proved it with the way they played.”

Speed was laid to rest in a private ceremony for family and close friends at St Deiniol’s Church, Hawarden, where he married wife Louise in 1996.

The Mancot-born footballer remains Wales’ most-capped outfield player having represented his country 84 times.